Justice News

Police seize hundreds of prescription painkillers, more than $35,000 and firearms during search of defendant’s home

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Charleston pill dealer faces up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty today in federal court to distribution of oxycodone, announced U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin. On October 3, 2012, law enforcement officers with the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department executed a search warrant at the Charleston residence belonging to Eric Simmons, 27. During the search of Simmons’ residence, police seized approximately $35,410 in cash, two rifles, two handguns and 872 30-milligram oxycodone pills.

Simmons had previously sold 10 30-milligram oxycodone pills to a confidential informant working with the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department in exchange for $300. The illegal pill transaction occurred at the parking lot of the Ivy Motel located on MacCorkle Avenue in Charleston.

Simmons regularly sold prescription painkillers in and around Charleston for $30 to $35 per pill. The cash seized from the defendant’s residence was proceeds collected from illegal prescription pill transactions.

Simmons is scheduled to be sentenced on August 5, 2013 by United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston.

The Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney John Frail is in charge of the prosecution.

This case is being prosecuted as part of an ongoing effort led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to combat the illicit sale and misuse of prescription drugs. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, joined by various federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, remain committed to aggressively pursuing and shutting down illegal pill trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets and curtailing the spread of opiate painkillers in communities across the Southern District.